Public Engagement Grant Scheme 2016

Further information and guidelines for making an application

Introduction

The Institute of Physics aims to provide positive and compelling experiences of physics for public audiences through engaging and entertaining activities and events.The Institute’s public engagement grant scheme is designed to give financial support of up to £2000 to individuals and organisations running physics-based events and activities during 2016.

This is part of the Institute’s new five-year strategy which aims to widen participation in, and enjoyment of, physics and to raise the appreciation of the important role that physics plays in our culture and society.

The 2016 grant will close at 12 noon on Monday 17th October 2016.All projects funded must start after 1st December 2017 and be completed by 31st July 2017.

Applicants are encouraged to contact Siân Hickson of the Outreach and Engagement team prior to submitting an application. She can offer practical support in terms of help, advice and selected resources along with discussing potential ideas for a project. Siân can be reached by phone on 07887 736487, or by emailing .

Objectives

The Institute’s grant scheme aims to encourage and support the development of projects that:

  • Raise public awareness of, and engagement with, contemporary physics.
  • Inspire and enthuse public audiences, especially those not previously interested in physics.
  • Reach adult and family audiences beyond the classroom.
  • Develop the science communication skills of individuals, particularly physicists.

Eligibility

The grant scheme is open to all and provides funding for individuals and organisations to organise public engagement with physics activities.This includes, but is not limited to, members of the Institute of Physics, researchers in academia or industry, museums, community groups, not-for-profit organisations, arts groups and libraries.

Previous recipients of Institute of Physics grants are welcome to apply for funding, but the assessment panel will look for development of the idea or activity in the new application.The completed final reports from previous projects will be used by the panel during the assessment process.

Current members of the Institute of Physics’ Council are not eligible to apply for, or be associated with, a public engagement grant.

Criteria for the grant scheme

Applications will be judged against the following criteria and should clearly demonstrate:

  • That the project is physics-based and explores underlying concepts and issues, rather than just providing information.
  • Awareness of public interest and concerns including the relevance of the project to the target audience(s).
  • Timeliness and relevance. (Projects linking physics to external events in the wider community, e.g. local festivals, anniversaries, etc. are welcome.)
  • Targeting of specific public audiences.Projects that target traditionally hard-to-reach groups (e.g. ethnic minorities, geographically isolated communities) and independent adults (i.e. not accompanied by children) are encouraged.
  • Clear objectives for the project and the potential to make an impact on the target audience.Projects that demonstrate imaginative ways of engaging new audiences with physics, including cross-disciplinary collaborations, are encouraged.
  • Evidence of adequate and appropriate means of publicity to reach and attract the target audience.
  • Evidence of working with physicists to ensure accurate content. Projects that develop the science communication skills of physicists are encouraged. The Outreach & Engagement team can help to identify local physicists to assist with projects if required.
  • Evidence of realistic evaluation commensurate to the project.
  • Cost-effectiveness. Where applications include buying in commercially provided activities, the application should clearly justify the need for the activities with respect to the target audience.
  • That the activity is dependent on Institute funding or that it adds a significant element.
  • Evidence that the applicant has a plan to meet any shortfall in funding not covered by the Institute’s award or by other institutions they might have applied to.
  • A realistic assessment of practical issues such as copyright, insurance and health and safety issues.
  • Realistic timelines and a clear plan for delivery of the project.
Grants will not be awarded to:
  • Projects that will take place outside of the UK and Ireland.
  • Projects aimed at children while at school or on school trips. This includes outreach visits to schools and trips by school groups to your organisation.

Schools might be interested in the IOP/STFC/IET School Grants scheme which funds projects up to £500.Further details are available from:

  • Cover the cost for project staff who receive a full-time salary from their organisation or employer.
  • Cover the cost of projects which are part of an organisation’s usual programme of activities.
  • Cover the cost of general purpose hardware, apparatus or equipment such as digital cameras, telescopes or computers etc., unless they are: shown to be integral to the project, will be used beyond the project lifetime to communicate physics and does not make up the majority of the project costs.
  • Cover the costs of science communicators, unless it is shown that there is a demand for the service of the science communicator from another organisation involved with the project. We encourage organisations to apply on behalf of science communicators to demonstrate this demand.

Grants can be awarded to pay science communicators if the organisation requesting their services applies for an award.

Applications must be for projects that will take place in the UK and Ireland.Grants must be used by 31st July 2017. The maximum award is £2000.

Completing your application form

We recommend that as well as reading these guidelines, you read the judging guidelines found on our website before you complete your application form.The panel of judges which will include physicists and professional science communicators will be scoring your application against the scheme’s criteria. In order to make a judgement they will need to fully understand what you are applying for funds for, so it is important that you include key information about your project. The information below is designed to help you do this.

All of the boxes on the application form can be expanded as necessary.

Section 1

Main applicant’s contact details. This is the person who will be responsible for receiving any grant money awarded. They will also be responsible for reporting back to us.

Section 2

This section is for you to tell us about your project. The panel needs to be able to get a clear idea of what you are planning to do from reading this section. Itcan help to get someone not connected to your project to read your application to make sure that they can understand what you plan to do before you submit it.

2a. Project title (max 10 words)

This title will be put on our website if your application is successful.

2b.Project summary (max 250 words)

This section should give a clear, but concise, description of your proposed project including:

overall project aim(s) (what you plan to achieve)

target audience (who you plan to reach)

audience size

date(s)

location

a brief description of what you are planning to do, including the names of any speakers

a brief description of the physics involved and how it is going to be communicated

The project summary may duplicate information that is found elsewhere in your application. This summary will appear on our website if you application is successful.

2c. Who is your target audience?

We are looking for projects with a clearly defined target audience. Please tell us who you are aiming your project at, and/ or who you hope will attend your event. There is more than way you can define your target audience, but it could involve location, age or science background. E.g. local cyclists, independent adults with no formal qualifications in science, retired women.

i) Target audience size

Even if you have included this information in the project summary, please tell us the overall size of your intended audience. You should only put numbers here – additional information can be added elsewhere on the form in the relevant section.

2d.Project aims and objectives (max 350 words)

In this section you should outline your aim and project objectives, i.e. how you plan to achieve your project aims.You should also state how you plan to meet your objectives.

These could be bulleted if you prefer. For example:

Aim: To engage families visiting the East London Skate Fair with physics.

This project has three objectives:

To raise awareness of the physics involved in skateboarding.This will be achieved through a number of specially designed hands-on activities that explore the concepts of friction, momentum and forces.We will work with undergraduate students to develop these activities.

To reach an inner city audience through working in partnership with the East London Skate Fair.This event receives 10,000 visitors (mainly teenagers and young adults) from the areas of Bow, Hackney and Clapton.

To provide physics students with the training and support needed to participate in public outreach opportunities.Students will attend two, half day workshops.

The panel will use this section to judge whether you have a clear idea of what you hope to achieve and how you plan to do so.

2e.What area(s) of physics will your project include and how will it be communicated? (max 200 words)
In this section you should describe the physics content of your project. Include the names, where known, of any workshop leaders, speakers or consultants etc. The panel will be looking for evidence that the physics content will be accurate and well communicated.

If you do not have a science background, please mention if you plan to work with any physicists to ensure accuracy and include names and organisations where possible.

2f. How will you promote your project to reach and attract your target audience? (Max 250 words)

This section is for you to demonstrate that you have thought about how you can get your target audience involved in your project.The panel will be looking for evidence that you have considered any challenges involved.

2g. How will you know if your project has been successful? (Max 250 words)

The panel will be looking for evidence that you have thought about how you plan to evaluate your project against its aims.Consider whether you need any evaluation before your activity to inform what you are going to do, and think about what information you will need to obtain during or after your activity to assess whether it is has been successful. Remember, questionnaires are only one way of collecting information and may not be appropriate for your activity.

There is advice and resources on how to evaluate on our website at We also recommend that you take a look at the final project report template which all applicants are required to submit on completion of their project. This can be found online.

2h. Please provide us with a timeline for delivery of your project

The panel will be looking for evidence that you’ve provided a realistic timescale for your project. This should detail the core activities to be undertaken along with any key deadlines. You may need to build in contingency time if appropriate. Remember your project needs to be completed by 31st October 2016.

2i. Additional comments/ evidence in support of your application

This is your opportunity to tell us why you think this project is important.It may be that you know there’s a particular demand for your project within the target audience.Or maybe you have evidence to show why your activity is particularly relevant to your target audience.The panel will also want to know whether you have buy-in from your partners, whether you have you spoken to them about your project and whether they are willing to contribute their time, skills or resources towards it.

The panel will also be looking for evidence that you have considered any legacy to your project. This could be how your activity will be shared with others, or used again in the future.Or it may be a skills legacy, whether you can use the learning that you have obtained from carrying out this project to do something else in the future.

Section 3 - Grant Details

In this section you need to make it very clear what the grant will be used to pay for. Please read the exclusions in the criteria above.If you have any questions about what can and cannot be funded then do contact us before you submit an application.

3a. Please let us know the total cost of your project:

This refers to the overall cost of the project which could be higher than the amount you are applying for.

3b. Please indicate the amount you require from the Institute:

Our maximum award is £2000. We are unable to award more than this.

3c. Is there a charge for your activity?

The panel will use this to help judge whether your activity is accessible for your target audience. Remember to include this income in your budget breakdown.

3d. Please give a detailed breakdown of total cost and clearly indicate the costs that will be covered by the grant. Please show how you plan to cover the costs not met by this grant.

The panel needs to see exactly what the grant will be covering and whether these costs are relevant and reasonable.For example, if you are applying for honoraria or fees for speakers, then the panel will look at whether this cost appears to be good value for money taking into account the potential quality of the experience and the cost per head.

You will also need to indicate how you plan to cover the costs not covered by this grant.

We suggest putting your budget information in a table so that the panel can clearly see how the grant money will be spent. For example:

Item and description / Cost / Covered by
Travel costs to venue (60 miles plus parking) / £45.00 / IOP grant
Skateboards (6 boards @ £30 each) / £180.00 / IOP grant
Storage boxes for kit (10 @ £5.00 each) / £50.00 / IOP grant
Concave Mirror (2 mirrors @ £150 each) / £300.00 / IOP grant
Scissors (20 pairs) / £25.00 / IOP grant
Balloons (10 packs of 100 @ £6.00 each) / £60.00 / IOP grant
String / £5.00 / IOP grant
Postcard production (one day of design time @ £250 a day) / £250.00 / IOP grant
Postcard printing (A4 double sided 1000 copies at 35p a copy) / £350.00 / IOP grant
Tent hire for one day / £105.00 / Covered by venue
Travel and subsistence for volunteers for two days (estimated on £25 a day for five volunteers) / £250.00 / Covered by council volunteering grant
Total Cost of project / £1620.00
Cost covered by IOP grant / £1265.00
It is important to specify what the grant will be funding – often this grant can contribute towards the much larger total cost of a project and so identifying specific items to fund can be an arbitrary process. If this is the case please provide us with a breakdown of all costs involved in your project.
3e. Please state which other organisations you have also applied to for funding, the amount applied for, and the result of your applications (if known).

The panel will want to know who else you have applied to for funding, and whether you have been successful in these applications, so that they can gain an understanding of how you plan to fund your overall project.

3f. Please state any other partners involved in the project, for example those providing support in-kind.

The panel will want to know who else is involved in your project to help them gauge how your project connects to other STEM projects as well as to see who you will be working with. If you are working with partners, your application will be stronger if you can show that you already have their support for your project.

Section 4 – Your Experience

This section is for you to tell us briefly about your background and whether you, or anyone involved in the project, is a member of the Institute of Physics.You do not have to be a member of the Institute to apply to the scheme, but we do use this information to monitor the number of members applying to the scheme.

If you have applied to the scheme before, then your final report and / or your previous application may be used by the judging panel to assess whether there has been some development from your previous project.

Referees

The panel may ask to take up a reference at some point during the assessment process.

How did you hear of the scheme?

We use this information to find out which are the most effective promotional channels to reach potential applicants, so please state exactly where you heard of the scheme.

Application process

Application forms can be downloaded as a word document from the public engagement grant scheme website: